COMMENTARY : Barkley, Knicks Would Be Match Made in Heaven

Even as part of a rumor that might not last longer than a couple of headlines or a couple of days, Charles Barkley makes the Knicks more alive, so much more interesting than they have looked lately. He is 32 and not what he was and clearly has fallen out of favor in Phoenix with Jerry Colangelo, who runs the Suns.

Barkley is still a unique basketball talent, a real personality at a time when sports seems to be running out of those. It is a longshot that he could end up here, even for a short run. You wanted the headlines about him to last anyway, even if New York was more excited about Barkley Thursday than he was about New York.

“You know when I really would’ve liked to play in New York?” Barkley said Thursday from San Francisco. “Three or four years ago. That would have been a great time for me and Patrick (Ewing) to play alongside each other. But now? I just don’t know. It would be great to be in New York, don’t get me wrong. I’ve always said it’s a great stage. But I’m not sure if I’d be able to play up to everybody’s expectations.”

He was asked if he wants to be traded.

“No,” he said. “I don’t want to be traded, and I’ve never come out and said I want to be traded. I still want to finish my career in Phoenix. What I want more than anything is for the Suns to come out and say I’m not gonna be traded.”

What if he found out he had been traded to the Knicks?

“I’d be shocked.”

Happy?

“I’d take it as a compliment. Tell everybody in New York I’d be real flattered. And if it was the Knicks, I’d come, because I had to. But at this point in my life and this point in my career, I don’t know how excited I’d be about packing up and moving across the country, as interesting as it would be--even now--to play alongside Patrick, because I haven’t had a real big man since Moses (Malone, when Barkley was still with the 76ers). Besides, I’m not going to commit to playing with anybody past this season.”

Can he still play, at the age of 32, after so many injuries the past two seasons, especially at the end of those seasons?

“I can play with anybody. I’m still the only guy who can end up in the top five in the league in scoring and top five in rebounding, and people run around like I had a disappointing season.”

If he came to the Knicks, would he be enough to make the Knicks a real contender to make it out of the Eastern Conference and back to the NBA Finals?

“Oh, man,” Barkley said, “I can’t say that. How can anybody say that with the Bulls and the Magic in the East? That’s what I mean about not being able to play up to people’s expectations.”

Do the Knicks want Barkley? Come on. The season is not over at 21-11. Only once under Pat Riley (23-9 in 1993-94) did the Knicks ever break from the gate better. But they have played too much lazy basketball lately, with or without Ewing. Even Barkley, injured right now after the surgical removal of the nail on his big toe, doesn’t move the Knicks past the Michael Jordan Bulls in the playoffs, or the Magic, or even the Indiana Pacers. That is no way to bet. Sometimes you root a different way. Just for the fun of it. And the Knicks haven’t been much fun for about a month.

Barkley isn’t having much fun in Phoenix. Two-and-a-half years ago, Barkley was MVP of the regular season and went all the way to the sixth game of the Finals against Jordan and the Bulls. The last two years, the Suns went out in the playoffs against the Rockets. So all three of his Phoenix seasons, the Suns have lost to the champs.

Now everybody important is hurt and the Suns were 13-17 going into their game against the Warriors Thursday, and Barkley is in trade rumors, and Paul Westphal, a coach who has averaged 59 wins in his first three seasons, won more games in that time than Pat Riley, is supposed to be in trouble. It is not just New York that is turned completely insane by sports.

“Probably the most disappointing thing is that the first time things go bad (in Phoenix), I’m hung out to dry, and so is Paul,” Barkley said. “And that ain’t right. All of a sudden, he’s in limbo and so am I. I appreciate the interest of y’all in New York, but what I want the Suns to do is say Charles isn’t going anywhere and neither is the coach.”

Barkley always talks about retiring, so he was asked if he means it when he says this year is it.

“It would be unrealistic to say otherwise,” he said. “If the team I’m on doesn’t win this year, I don’t see that team winning next year. Would it be ideal to come to New York and win it all? Sure it would. But it would be just as ideal to still do it in Phoenix.”

He has always had the biggest mouth in the league. He has always made the most noise, and loved the spotlight, and the attention. It just didn’t sound that way with Barkley Thursday. For all the headlines, Barkley never raised his voice.

“I’ve reached the point in my career that a lot of guys reach eventually,” Charles Barkley said. “I’m playing against my own reputation now. I wonder if anything I do could be enough, in Phoenix or New York or anywhere else.”